This invention relates generally to pen-based computing systems, and more particularly to creating, transferring, and enhancing data between a paper domain and a digital domain.
Various combinations of hardware and software tools allow for the creation of documents and information in a digital domain (e.g., using a personal computer, a PDA, and many other computing devices) as well as in the paper domain (e.g., written on paper). Documents and other information created in the digital domain may be multi-modal. For example, digital documents may include text, digital ink (drawn on a screen), audio, animations, and/or various combinations thereof.
Documents created and edited in the paper domain may also be multi-modal. For example, a document in the paper domain may include writing as well as associated audio. This might be accomplished by a system that captures and combines writing and audio content, such as a standalone digital recorder and a digital pen having an input. In another example, a document created in the paper domain may simply include a time component to the writing content, which may be used to generate a replay animation of the writing as it was entered in real time.
As multi-modal information may be created in either the digital or the paper domain, multi-modal information can also be transferred between the two domains. For example, text composed in the digital domain may be printed on one or more sheets of paper. In another example, text with associated audio may be printed on a sheet of paper, and the audio may be delivered into a platform for access in the paper domain (such as the LeapPad™ provided by LeapFrog or point-and-click pens found in Japan and China). In an example of transferring data from paper domain to digital domain, ink drawn in the paper domain may be transferred to a personal computer as digital ink (such as a standard input pen provided by Logitech). Audio may then be transferred to the digital domain—i.e., recorded—and manually associated with the digital ink.
Although it is possible to transfer multi-modal information between the paper and digital domains, this process is rarely automated and typically does not allow for useful transfer between the domains more than once. One of the problems with existing systems is that multi-modal information that is useful in one of the domains is often lost when that information is transferred to the other domain. In part because of this limitation, there is no seamless, low-cost, or easy-to-use system which supports on-going cyclical transfer of multi-modal information for a single document or “information carrier” between the paper and digital domains that allows for creation and/or enhancement of this information in each domain.
Accordingly, there is a need for techniques that enable the cyclical creation, transfer, and enhancement of multi-modal information back and forth between the paper and digital domains multiple times.